Trevor Comfort is a car guy who likes to fall on the grenade for old iron.
He’s rescued everything from late 50s and early 60s Cadillacs to vintage dirt track stock cars.
One of his latest acquisitions turned out to be one of his most important.
Trevor found this 1954 GMC during one of his routine searches for old iron in distress. He explained, ” I found the truck on good old Kijiji”.
Trevor looks for any reason to pick up an old ride but this time the reason was personal, “I thought it was cool being a old White Rose truck, my former boss, Guy Tosfrud was a White Rose fan.
There was more than mere nostalgia to the purchase equation because Trev runs a restoration and collision shop so the truck was also practical, “I also I thought it would be great for moving cars & heavy equipment around the yard & shop”. Trevor is also a huge 50s nostalgia guy so there was something about this practical and cool old tow truck that just seemed right to a guy who lives in a decade before he was born.
This tow truck is period correct down to the weathered old Chargex decal on the hood and the rubber tire front bumper.
The car gods occasionally smile on their dedicated followers and this time they smiled on Trevor for an odd reason, “After owning it for a couple weeks we were hit with old man winter, then I was told my snow plow guy had retired”.
Trevor has a very long driveway so the “snow plow guy” wasn’t a frivolous expense-he needed a clear driveway for his clients and his family. The solution was obvious for a hands-on guy like Trevor, “Back to good old Kijiji where I found a old beat up 12′ snow blade for sale”.
Fortunately, Trevor is a solid fabrication guy so the blade was another weekend exercise, “After a couple weekends I built the blade attachments to mate the blade to the truck”.
This has been a spectacularly long winter for Trevor in Red Deer Alberta.It’s been so severe that the city itself has been behind in snow clearing for the whole winter, but Trevor’s old workhorse has been a remarkable advantage for him as he explained, “The plow truck has proven to be a great asset in helping keep our road open this year”.
The winter has only stumped the old GMC a few times, “We have had on two occasions that the old gal just could not push hard enough, keeping in mind it is just a little 230 6-cyl motor as a mill”.
Nevertheless, Old Man Winter never beat the old warhorse as Trevor explained, “The truck fires up in -30 weather, no problem”.
This truck is no different than any other old ride because it has a future and a game plan as Trevor outlined, “Future plans may include some 12 volt wiring to get it roadworthy, We would love to take it to a cruise night but it will have to wait its turn”.
The waiting period is one that every car guy on the globe will understand-the ’54 GMC tow truck is down the list on the healing line,“I have a ’61 Impala to finish, then a drive train to install in my ’55 Poncho stock car”.
Those are priorities that make sense but the difference is this old Jimmy tow truck is paying its way while it waits-real working class trucks never retire.
Jerry Sutherland
